USDA keeps tainted meat's destination secret

The recall of tainted meat products is surrounded by secrecy that protects the food industry at the expense of public health, critics say.

The Spokesman-Review filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the identities of more than 580 distributors, restaurants and grocery stores that received 19 tons of beef recalled after a Washington state cow tested positive for mad cow disease in December.

The information exists in government files. But the newspaper's request was denied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency cited exemptions protecting the trade secrets of private enterprise.

Where the meat was sold must be reconstructed from news reports and grocery store press releases, not from government documents.

Critics say more openness would protect public health by giving consumers the names of stores and restaurants that receive recalled meat and poultry. Consumers then could more easily determine whether they have purchased any recalled product.

As the system works today, government press releases on recalls describe the meat product, where it was processed and sometimes the states that received it, but no specific names of grocery stores or restaurants....